The Bali packing list that changes with your trip

Documents: the three things that get you through Denpasar

Passport with at least six months' validity from your arrival date. Your e-VOA, bought in advance from the official immigration site and screenshotted. Your Bali tourist levy receipt, paid online before you land. The visa page walks through all three, with the current amounts and the official links.

Since Smartraveller's update of 11 September 2026, Indonesia also requires the All Indonesia Arrival Card, completed online within 72 hours of travel. Screenshot that too. Airport Wi-Fi is fine most days and useless the day you need it.

Travel insurance details go in the same folder: an offline copy of the policy and the 24-hour claims number. If you plan to ride a scooter, add an International Driving Permit in the motorcycle class; without it, most policies will not cover a scooter accident.

The chemist bag

This is the section worth doing before you buy anything else, because it is the stuff that is expensive, hard to find or simply different on the island. Reef-safe sunscreen (pricey to buy there). Insect repellent for dawn and dusk. Electrolyte sachets for the hot days. A basic first-aid kit and your own medications, with a photo of any prescription; chat to your GP or pharmacist before you fly.

Wander Gut lives in this bag too. The guide's line on it is the only one we use: 2 capsules daily, start before you fly. It needs no fridge, so it goes in the day pack rather than the hold.

Clothes: less, lighter, one warm thing

Bali is warm all year. Pack light, breathable clothes you do not mind sweating in, and stop at about half of what you first laid out. Laundry is cheap and everywhere, which is why the two-week list on this page adds a laundry bag rather than more clothes.

The one thing people forget is a warm layer: the plane is cold, Ubud evenings can be cool in the middle of the year, and the ride down from a sunrise hike is chilly. A light jumper or a big scarf does it.

Temples require covered shoulders and a sarong, which the temple will lend you; your own is nicer and doubles as a beach towel and a picnic rug. Grippy sandals earn their place on temple steps and wet scooter floors.

If you are going in the wet season

Roughly November to March is wetter, with heavy afternoon downpours rather than all-day rain. A light rain jacket and a dry bag for the phone and passport are non-negotiable in those months; both are in the core list for that reason. Quick-drying clothes and a second pair of sandals help. Umbrellas are sold on every corner the moment it starts.

With kids, and with carry-on only

Travelling with kids adds a short list rather than a long one: their own sunscreen and hats, a rashie, snacks they will actually eat for the flight and the first jet-lagged morning, a carrier (footpaths are patchy and a carrier wins on temple steps), and swim nappies or floaties because pool villas are the norm and the pool is right there. Tick "with kids" above and the tool adds them.

Carry-on only is very doable for Bali because the clothes are so light. The rules that bite are liquids: decant sunscreen and repellent into bottles under 100 ml in one clear bag, and wear the heaviest shoes and the jacket on the plane. Packing cubes turn a carry-on from a pile into a system.

What to leave at home

• Heavy jeans and anything that needs ironing.
• A towel. Every villa and hotel has them; the sarong covers the beach.
• A hairdryer, for the same reason.
• Large bottles of anything you can buy in a minimart: shampoo, toothpaste, basic sunscreen for after you run out of the good stuff.
• More than two pairs of shoes. Sandals, and one pair of closed shoes if you are riding or hiking.
• The full-size first-aid kit. The small one, plus your own medications, is enough.